m 16 parts

[2amencw]

just found a listing i was about to bid on but then i noticed it was an m-16fa bolt carrier. I tried to message the seller because it seems apparent he doesnt realize what he has or the legalities involved. advice?

[AMX]

The ATF don't seem to worry about M16 carrier's anymore. Colt, and some companys use them in the semi auto's they sell now.

[Ridge_Runner_5]

Bolt carriers dont really matter...its the trigger and associated parts you need to watch out for...

[2amencw]

I am not trying to sound flippant, has that stance been court tested, or has ATF issued a letter. In the past I had always seen that possesion of even one FA part wether assembled or not constituted a violation. I am not sure I want to risk a violation. CW

[publius]

I am almost positive that just one or even 2 parts may be used to assemble a AR. But....if you even posess all the fire control parts, you have an M16. You don't even have to have an upper or lower, just the M16 fire control parts alone constitute an M16.

[TheManHimself]

Colt (among others) ships their semi-auto ARs from the factory with M16 bolt carriers. If there was any legal gray area whatsoever, such a big manufacturer as Colt would not be doing that.

The reason M16 FCG parts can't be used in an AR15 is because they are involved in making the rifle select fire. What the law says is that if a weapon fires more than one round per trigger pull, it's a machinegun. An M16 bolt carrier by itself cannot make a semi-automatic AR automatic, and therefore is perfectly legal.

[2amencw]

thanks for the good info. we gotta watch each other's six

[oldcspsarge]

The BATF&E has a ZERO tolerence policy on ANY M-16 part in an AR format rifle.

Colt does not ship any semi-auto AR's with M-16 carriers.

Several manufacturers DO modify the carrier hammer cocking angle to M-16 design BUT leave the rear of the carrier cut out as to not have any sear trip.

The ATF arrested 2 shooters at the National Matches for just having a M-16 carrier in their AR's.....the NRA lawyers came to their rescue.

Bottom line...don't use ANY M-16 parts or possess them if you have an AR.

[TheManHimself]

Buy a new Colt 6920. Semi auto, not NFA anything. Comes with the original design carrier. You fail. Please, if you don't know what you're talking about, don't post on the subject.

Also, I call BS on the arrests unless you can come up with a verified report. ATF's stance on the subject as per their letter to Colt is "We can only inform you that if this installation were to create a firearm that fires automatically, it would be a machinegun as defined; conversely, if it did not result in the production of a weapon that shoots automatically, it would be lawful to possess and make."

[jmorris]

http://www.quarterbore.com/nfa/lightninglink.html

Research, don’t retard.

[TheManHimself]

1.) RLL's have nothing to do with the legality of bolt carriers.

2.) That page is horribly outdated.

This site was last updated 03/23/04

Which makes its information on Colt carriers rather worthless, since they didn't start shipping SA rifles with the original design carriers until '06 or '07.

3.) There is no possibility that the original design carrier is illegal.

First off, the letter of the law (NFA '34) defines a machinegun as being a weapon that fires more than one shot per trigger pull. Running the original carrier in a SA weapon cannot make it do this without further modification.

Second, Colt has a letter from BATFE (which they inquired about in '05 before they started using the original design carriers in their SA rifles) saying basically that it's legal to put whatever the hell parts you want in an AR as long as it doesn't make it fire automatically.

What is illegal is running the original design carrier along with M16 trigger group parts (Or even M16 trigger parts alone), as this could make the weapon fire automatically.